Long Beach State team celebrate the win over UCLA in the NCAA National Championship match at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles on Saturday, May 5, 2018. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

Long Beach State team celebrate with the trophy after defeating UCLA in the NCAA National Championship match at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles on Saturday, May 5, 2018. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

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Long Beach State’s TJ DeFalco celebrates after making a block during the NCAA National Championship match against UCLA at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles on Saturday, May 5, 2018. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

Long Beach State team celebrate the win over UCLA in the NCAA National Championship match at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles on Saturday, May 5, 2018. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

Long Beach State head coach Alan Knipe, left, gives instructions to his players during the NCAA National Championship match against UCLA at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles on Saturday, May 5, 2018. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

Long Beach State’s Josh Tuaniga, left, makes a dig during the NCAA National Championship match against UCLA at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles on Saturday, May 5, 2018. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

UCLA’s Micah Ma’a, and his teammates celebrate their point during the NCAA National Championship match against Long Beach State at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles on Saturday, May 5, 2018. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

Long Beach State’s TJ DeFalco celebrate after defeating UCLA in the NCAA National Championship match at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles on Saturday, May 5, 2018. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

Long Beach State’s Kyle Ensing spikes the ball during the NCAA National Championship match against UCLA at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles on Saturday, May 5, 2018. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

UCLA’s Christian Hessenauer, right, tries to tip the ball over Long Beach State players during the NCAA National Championship match at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles on Saturday, May 5, 2018. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

Long Beach State’s Josh Tuaniga, right, and Jordan Molina get emotional after defeating UCLA in the NCAA National Championship match at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles on Saturday, May 5, 2018. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

Long Beach State Bjarne Huus, makes a dig during the NCAA National Championship match against UCLA at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles on Saturday, May 5, 2018. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

UCLA’s Daenan Gyimah, left, tips the ball over Long Beach State players during the NCAA National Championship match at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles on Saturday, May 5, 2018. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

UCLA’s Micah Ma’a, right, makes a dig during the NCAA National Championship match against Long Beach State at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles on Saturday, May 5, 2018. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

Long Beach State’s Josh Tuaniga, left, and the team celebrates after winning the fourth set with an ace during the NCAA National Championship match against UCLA at Pauley Pavilion in Los Angeles on Saturday, May 5, 2018. (Photo by Kyusung Gong/Contributing Photographer)

LOS ANGELES — There was nothing UCLA’s security could do. There was no stopping this court storm.

After Nick Amado threw down a championship-winning kill off the UCLA block, Long Beach State students and fans stormed the Pauley Pavilion court, celebrating the team’s first men’s volleyball championship since 1991 after the top-ranked 49ers survived against No. 3 UCLA 25-19, 23-25, 20-25, 26-24, 15-12 on Saturday.

On their third straight trip to the NCAA tournament, falling the previous two years in the semifinals, the 49ers raised the trophy to their black-and-gold-clad fans who turned Pauley Pavilion into friendly territory.

“You get some failure and what are you going to do with it?” Long Beach head coach Alan Knipe said, wearing his championship cap into the postgame news conference. “Our guys decided to have some determination and do something about it.”

The 49ers (28-1) trailed 17-14 in the fourth set, down two sets to one, and scored five of the next six points, three on kills from TJ DeFalco, to tie the set at 19-19. Setter Josh Tuaniga dumped a pass over on the second contact to bring up Long Beach’s second set point and then completed the comeback with an ace to the back corner.

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The national player of the year was certain that his serve had sailed out. He was devastated.

“And then I saw the linesman do this with the flag,” Tuaniga said mimicking the linesman signaling the ball in by pointing his flag to the ground. “Then it was all good from there.”

Tuaniga, who was named the most outstanding player of the tournament, had 46 assists Saturday. Kyle Ensing led the 49ers with 20 kills, followed by 18 from DeFalco.

UCLA (26-8) scored just three points off its own serve in the first set, but served its way back into the match with five aces in the second and third sets. Dylan Missry had six of UCLA’s seven aces, but the Bruins wilted with 11 service errors in the fourth and fifth sets, opening the door for the 49ers to come back.

“I wanted to go out there and bomb, that was the only way we could win,” UCLA head coach John Speraw said of the serving strategy.

Daenan Gyimah was UCLA’s most consistent source of offense. The sophomore middle blocker with a soaring 40-inch vertical jump had 21 kills on a labored 40 swings with six errors. The nation’s leading hitter hit worse than .400 in both games against Long Beach State in Pauley Pavilion this year, UCLA’s only two home losses of the season.

“He’s one of the reasons why we’re here in the first place,” said UCLA setter Micah Ma’a, who had 52 assists Saturday. “So we run with him and whether he was killing it or not, we were going to go back to him and that’s just how volleyball is.”

While UCLA’s championship drought rolls on, stretching to 13 years since its last title in 2006, the 49ers relished the opportunity to end theirs. They steamrolled through most of the regular season, leading the nation in hitting percentage. Anything less than Saturday’s national championship just didn’t seem right for a process that had been building within the program since Knipe won the 1991 title as a player.

“It means the world,” Ensing said of winning the title.

Ensing skipped into the news conference late, reveling in the last moments he had on the court before sitting between DeFalco and Tuaniga. DeFalco carefully laid his piece of the championship net on the podium under his miniature NCAA trophy. Tuianiga wore his freshly printed NCAA championship T-shirt as a scarf, unable to get it down over his shoulders.

When the trio of juniors leaned back to laugh, there was subtle reminder of their new official position atop the sport: A yellow No. 1 printed under the brims of their championship caps.

Thuc Nhi Nguyen has covered UCLA for the Southern California News Group since 2016. A proud Seattle native, she majored in journalism and mathematics at the University of Washington. She likes graphs, animated GIFs and superheroes.

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